On the Mend

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She went on Prozac and kept Her fingers crossed that it would help Her feel better. They made an appointment with a marriage counselor. She had a job; even it was just part-time, every little bit would help.

One day She was chatting with a friend who mentioned another friend, S, who worked for an online school. This definitely piqued Her interest. According to Her friend, S was a junior high teacher and did everything from home. It was full-time and paid into the state retirement system. With a sickly 1-year-old attached to Her hip, this sounded like a dream job. She called up this complete stranger, S, and asked Her about the job. They immediately hit it off. The job sounded great. S recommended Her for a job and within a week, She was hired. It felt like a miracle.

The appointment with the counselor finally came. They were nervous and felt silly being there. The counselor asked them questions and helped Them understand each other’s point of view. It was awesome. After a few sessions with the counselor, They felt much better. Things were much better now that They understood each other. They knew marriage was hard work, but They were more than willing to put in the time and effort. They loved each other, after all.

In the midst of everything that was going on, They were concerned because Baby Girl was not talking yet. They knew expressive language would be one of their biggest hurdles. Baby Girl might not ever talk. It was just a reality They had to deal with. They were interested in trying a communication device so She would have some way of communicating with the world.

Baby Girl hated it. They tried several and every time, she hated it. Baby Girl didn’t want to use it at all. They tried and tried and still, nothing.

And then she talked.

She spoke actual, meaningful words. They were garbled, hard to understand, but they were words. Beautiful, musical, magical words.

Baby Girl was so stubborn that she wouldn’t talk until she realized, if she didn’t talk, she’d have to use the device which she hated. They were convinced that was what pushed Baby Girl into talking. They were elated to now have signs, pictures and a few words. They’d keep pushing and trying until she could get her point across to those around her. They would not give up.

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4 responses to “On the Mend”

Counseling gets a bad rap. People assume that going to counseling means something is broken, when in reality it means that you (or you and your husband) recognize that you need outside help to cope with trials and re-learn things in your relationship that have been thrust aside because of life. Your not “fixing anything” (because any counselor will tell you they can’t fix things), the therapist is teaching you new skills and reminding you two of how strong you really are. Frankly, Ben and I have always treasured the times when we went to regular counseling sessions. We still use the skills we learned there.

(I’m sure you know all this.)

If you still have that job, it does sound perfect for you and your family. Even though working from home is difficult, it does have its advantages.

One of the reasons that I love you and your blog is that you speak so honestly about so many things — with all that you have had to deal with, counseling can really help. I am glad that it did. I am also glad that you found a way to set free those beautiful, magical, astounding words!